Dominican Republic menaced by T.S. Isaac

Santo Domingo.— Tropical Storm Isaac is headed to the Dominican Republic early Thursday, when it’s expected to gain strength after leaving downpours over the eastern Caribbean’s tiny islands.

The first response authorities headed by the Emergence Operations Center (COE) issued flash flooding and mudslide advisories from Saona Island to Pedernales, the country’s south coast.

National Hurricane Center forecasters said Isaac, located 850 kilometers east-southeast of Saona, was likely to approach Hispaniola, the island shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti, as a hurricane late Thursday or early Friday after intensifying over the warm waters of the Caribbean Sea.

Early Thursday the storm’s maximum sustained winds were near 40 mph (62kph). Isaac was moving west near 12 mph (18kph), the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.